CID Battalion Prepares for Deployment

FORT STEWART, Ga. – When ordered, agents from the 3rd Military Police Group (CID), deploy to support contingency operations supporting the combatant commander. Several months before leaving, agents undergo realistic training to hone their craft and ready their talents before putting them to use on the battlefield.

Soldiers from the 502nd Military Police Battalion (CID), Fort Campbell, KY recently participated in the first-ever CID staff rotation at the Combined Training Center at Fort Polk, La. The agents received specialized training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Brunswick, Ga. that measured their ability to react in active shooter, drug identification, death scene, and post blast analysis scenarios. The battalion leadership and staff were trained on their ability to react to the same scenarios from Fort Stewart, Ga. at the staff certification exercise.

Special Agent Charles Rector, an assistant operations officer with the 11th MP Battalion (CID), briefed the agents on the current mission and conditions in Afghanistan. His presence provides the realism needed to reflect the operating environment as his unit is currently operating throughout Afghanistan. The pre-deployment training is crucial he says, because most of the agents will be a collective from across the country.

“They are all bringing different mindsets from different locations so congealing them here together gives them not only combined training but a camaraderie that comes from [training] together,” Rector said.
Rector said that recreating the tasks and environment for Afghanistan gives the unit a perspective needed to complete their jobs, but with the addition of the difficulties and added security risks.

“Some of the FLETC training, and weapons firing training puts them in a mindset that they are not in the [United States], and puts some of the principles (and) security elements in place that we won’t necessarily consider here,” said Rector.

Colonel Thomas Byrd, commander for 3rd Mp Group (CID), said that building the team from the agents to the supporting staff will pay dividends for the leadership and unit in Afghanistan. He observed the training at the certification exercise and his staff will be supporting the unit while they are deployed.

“I find it fitting that the CID motto is ‘do what has to be done’ because each CID unit has contributed to this effort that has resulted in the 502nd ready to deploy,” Byrd said. He also commented on his confidence of the battalion leadership and Soldiers’ ability to perform the mission.

Major Gen. David Quantock, the Provost Marshal General of the Army, Commanding General United States Army Criminal Investigation Command and Army Corrections Command attended the culminating ceremony at Evans Army Airfield and he agreed with Byrd on the readiness level and future successes of the battalion.

“This unit is a highly trained and capable CID battalion ready to successfully deploy to Afghanistan for their mission,” said Quantock.